The River: To Be Cancelled or Renewed for Season Two?

Published: March 20, 2012

This evening, ABC aired the season finale of The River. What’s next? Will the TV show return for a second season or will it be cancelled instead?

For those who aren’t familiar with the ABC series, The River follows the search for beloved TV host and explorer (Bruce Greenwood) some six months after he and his team went missing down the Amazon. His wife, son, their crew and a documentary team go after them on what turns out to be a dangerous rescue mission. The cast includes Joe Anderson, Leslie Hope, Eloise Mumford, Paul Blackthorne, Thomas Kretschmann, Daniel Zacapa, Shaun Parkes, and Paulina Gaitan.

Sadly, it’s almost certain that The River will be cancelled. The thriller series debuted back in the February with a pair of episodes. The first hour attracted a 2.6 in the coveted 18-49 demographic with 8.35 million total viewers. By the second hour, 12% of the audience had bailed and the numbers dropped to a 2.3 rating with 6.83 million.

The ratings have been dropping ever since. Last week’s episode drew just a 1.3 rating in the demo with 4.09 million total viewers. Averaging a 1.67 demo and 4.82 million, The River is the lowest-rated drama on the network and has fallen even lower than sure-to-be-cancelled Pan Am. On our network report card, which compares ABC TV show demo ratings, The River gets a “D.”

With ratings like these, there’s just no chance that the alphabet network will order any more installments.

What do you think? Do you think The River should be cancelled? Are you satisfied with the way the story was left? How would you have ended it?

I miss The River, it was unique and very intense. People did not drop off, they recorded the series so they could watch at a more convenient time. Your rating systems cannot detect the recordings. Therefore, the archaic way networks are getting information is what makes or breaks a show. Get into the 21st century and work with technology that is used!

my comment is that you should not cancel The river because it was a very good sh0w with good actor.I never miss one episode on The river. You should just keep on doing the series of the river because there are still some people that like the river and i am one of them.

Hi im from philippines and a huge fan of the river i always in a hurry just to watch it,i even download it and watch it over and over,please bring back the season 2,there still a lot of avid fans out there even here in philippines and other country please please godbless and more power.

The River was an EXCELLENT show!! I was never into scary movies, but I rushed home EVERY Tuesday night to catch this show. Please bring back this well-scripted show, and let’s get rid of garbage like Dancing With The Stars, The Bachelor, Etc…